The 2018 Magellanic Premium medal was awarded to Fabiola Gianotti “for her role in the discovery of the Higgs boson and her leadership in elementary particle physics.  From the design and construction of the ATLAS detector to the analysis of the data and discovery of the Higgs, Gianotti played a leading role in this milestone event. Today she serves as the Director-General of the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) and is leading the quest to understand matter, energy, space and time at the most fundamental level.”  The medal is engraved “for the discovery of the Higgs boson and leadership in high energy physics.”

The presentation of the prize took place at the Society's virtual April 2021 Meeting.  In the video of the award ceremony above, APS president Linda Greenhouse introduces the prize and the chair of the prize selection committee, Gordon Baym, presents the prize to her.  In her acceptance speech Dr. Gianotti discusses the significance of the relationship between the humanities and sciences and provides thought provoking insight about the idea of "useful knowledge" and the purpose of pure scientific investigation.  For instance, scientific investigation pursued purely for the sake of curiosity and knowledge may have appeared useless to society at the time, but generations later led to the development of transistors, GPS, and other advances that have had a profound impact on society today.

Fabiola Gianotti is an experimental elementary particle physicist. As the Spokesperson of ATLAS, one of the major experiments at CERN, Gianotti led one of the two, 3000-member teams that discovered the Higgs boson in 2012. The discovery of the Higgs was recognized by a Nobel Prize for the theory, but none for the experiment.  Her involvement in the Higgs discovery began with the design and building of the 7000-ton ATLAS detector with its almost 100 million readout channels and continued through the physics analysis that led to the actual discovery.  As CERN DG, she is shaping the global future of the field whose modest mission is a fundamental understanding of matter, energy, space and time.  Gianotti, a Foreign Member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences and an International Member of the American Philosophical Society, also trained as a classical pianist at the Milan Conservatory.

From a gift of 200 guineas by John Hyacinth de Magellan, of London, in 1786, for a gold medal to be awarded from time to time under prescribed terms, to the author of the best discovery or most useful invention relating to navigation, astronomy, or natural philosophy (mere natural history only excepted).  The medal, named the Magellanic Premium, was first awarded in 1790.   It is the oldest medal recognizing scientific achievements given by a North American institution.

The selection committee members were Gordon Baym, Professor Emeritus, Research Professor, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; Marvin Cohen, University Professor of Physics, University of California, Berkeley, Senior Faculty Scientist, Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory; Jeremiah Ostriker, Professor of Astronomy, Columbia University, Professor Emeritus of Astrophysical Sciences, Princeton University; and Michael Turner, Director, Kavli Institute for Cosmological Physics, Bruce V. and Diana M. Rauner Distinguished Service Professor, University of Chicago.

This bibliographic database will include the works of such figures as George Washington, John Adams, John Jay, James Madison, and Thomas Jefferson, as well as dozens of lesser-known though important scholars and thinkers in the early American republic. The database will, ultimately, document the development of early American science and intellectual life. For this resource, we push educators to ask themselves the following question before and after exploring the project: what objectives can you achieve by having students work with a bibliography?

We hope this resource will be of use in pushing bibliographies beyond a check-point assignment in your classrooms and provide inspiration for both you and your students. We’ve found that thinking about this bibliography in particular provides good notes on constructing bibliographies-as-assignments, new research tips and opportunities, and a variety of new perspectives.

This public-facing digital project is creating a database to document many of the most generative works and authors in the Atlantic world—including reprints and editions in any language—produced by Members elected to the American Philosophical Society (APS) between 1743 and 1865. This is no small task: APS Members were the who’s who of thinkers during the rise of natural philosophy and science, medical inquiry, and ethnography. Many of these early Members had deep connections to the American Revolution and the early republic. 

Like any bibliography, this project started by gathering information about the publications needed or used. In this case, Fellow Jeff Appelhans (among other APS Fellows), drew together records from the public catalog of major historical libraries to see what our Member authors published. By drawing together records from the British Library’s English Short Title Catalog, the American Antiquarian Society, and the Library Company of Philadelphia, with APS holdings—and the vast foreign-language holdings cataloged in WorldCat—the project’s managers aspire to comprehensive coverage. The process and large scope taught a few lessons that can relate to smaller bibliographies. 

Consider some of the big hits of the period covered in the project. For example, searching for famous Member Thomas Paine’s Common Sense, would result in a flood of results. Thus, the first considerations in a large (or small scale bibliography): scope of the project. As the early modern print revolution spun up, the boom of multiple editions alone could grind a project like this to a halt. When assigning large bibliographies or research projects, consider the scope of the project and the amount of available information. The time period covered should also go into consideration. Make sure learners know if they should be looking for editions within certain years or if any edition will do. The more narrow you as an educator can make the search, the easier for learners. Staying up to date on projects like this from classroom allies like the APS can help inspire research projects, trips, and other assignments. 

When it comes to research for students and ourselves, Wikipedia is a common go-to starting location. This bibliography also contains many facets contained in a Wikipedia article: additional resources (the bibliography itself), small biographies, and a sense of historical connections. The biographies are vetted by staff at the APS, as content in Wikipedia is vetted, but these biographies are smaller and usually clock-in at around 250 words. The connections seen in this bibliography are slightly different as well. Instead of seeing paragraphs about the context of, let’s say George Washington’s Farewell Address, students will see the history of and media of publication and use of the Address. Additionally, the resources listed in this bibliography provide the same jumping points that a Wikipedia article might. Imagine what questions might be provoked! 

Just as Wikipedia is a comfortable research go-to, manuscripts (hand-written materials) tend to be a comfortable primary source go-to. There is no doubting the power of a hand-written letter to connect students to history and historical figures on an intimate and empathetic scale. But there’s an equal and slightly different power that comes with published materials which can provide a new perspective on how we use primary sources. Let’s go back to George Washington’s Farewell Address. If you typically use a copy from 1800 as your primary source and compare that to this bibliography, the explorations of this document can change. Why were so many copies printed in 1800? What of the locations? Each of those copies is an individual primary source that shows a larger cultural network and narrative than a single manuscript might reveal. Taking a step back onto that larger scale, think about the bibliography’s display of locations and years. The Republic of Letters, the Enlightenment—both happened via the exchange of printed and manuscript materials together. This bibliography allows you to track that exchange in a networked, birds-eye view. Again, imagine what questions that might provoke! 

A bibliography is not as flashy as a virtual exhibition. But, as our thinking about uses of the bibliography deepened, there was an excitement that built up around its possible applications and the spin-off thoughts. Think about the definition of “bibliography.” Compare and contrast the surprisingly broad definition to how you use bibliographies in the classroom. There’s a reason National History Day assigns them and scholars so heavily use them. There’s a comparison to be made to popular book lists like the New York Times’ “Best-seller List” and this bibliography. That comparison and novel (possibly more interesting and enriching) uses of bibliographies rely on a reframing of those objectives we asked you to think about in the beginning.

Resources like this take more creative work but are always worth exploring. There are questions, ideas, concepts, activities, that can be discovered if we push to think outside of the usual assignments.  From how to construct a complex, comprehensive bibliography to exploring Enlightenment era exchange, we invite you to join the APS Library & Museum in rethinking the dusty bibliography!

Written by APS Fellow Dr. Jeff Appelhans and Mike Madeja, Head of Education Programs

Using Open Data - Franklin Ledgers

By Craig Fox (Museum Guide) 

One of the hardest parts of creating projects with open data is figuring out how to extract the endless supply of data into something useful. Here’s a guide on how we turned some of the data from the Benjamin Franklin Postal Project into an educational resource for students and educators.

The goal is to convert the data file into something usable for young students to understand more about early American history. A lot of the modifications involve removing incomplete or unused data in order to simplify the spreadsheet. It helps to know what information you want to extract or be left with before you go through some of these steps. The steps below assume the reader has a basic level of understanding of how to use Google Sheets or Microsoft Excel. While the process is mostly the same for both programs, all major differences are mentioned. If you want to see the finished version and the original file look at the sheets here.

Setup

First, download the data used for the project. The data used can be gotten at https://diglib.amphilsoc.org/islandora/object/compound:53#page/44/mode/1up by clicking on the “Datasets and Documentation” icon or by clicking here. Unzip the downloaded folder and use the “BF85f6-30_Dataset A_Post office book, letters received, 1767-1768.csv” file. Other datasets and a guide to reading them can be found here. Any datasets used from this project will end in “.csv” which is an open source, human readable file format for storing tables and spreadsheets. We will then convert this to Microsoft Excel’s file format (xlsx) or to a Google Sheets file.

Steps for Google Sheets

Setup: Open up Google Sheets and click the folder icon (it should read “open file picker” when hovered over). Click the upload tab in the window that pops up and add the file.

1. Insert 2 rows at the top of the document. Copy formatting from Initial Columns section located below. Pay attention to which cells are merged (cells are merged by highlighting them and then pressing the merge icon).
2. Hide the following Columns: “Notes” (Not Used), “Transcribers Notes” (Not Used), “Belonging to this office only” (Empty for the data we are using), “Sorting ID” (Not Used), “Page Number” (Not Used), “URL” (Not Used)
3. Highlight the third row, then click the “Data” tab and press “Create a new filter”. Select the filter icon next to “Data Completeness” and pick “Complete”.
4. Hide “Data Completeness” column
5. Create a new Column called “Time of Receiving” to the right of “Time of Receiving: Day”. Set the first row below the header equal to =DATEVALUE(CONCATENATE(TO_TEXT(F66), "-", TO_TEXT(G66), "-", TO_TEXT(E66))). Then drag this down to fill in all the rows.

(Note: The DATE function is not used because it will not accept pre-1900 years, so this workaround is needed to properly display those dates)

6. Highlight the column and go click the “Format” tab, then “Number”, then “More Formats”, then “custom number formats” and enter: mmm" "d", "yyyy
7. Hide “Time of Receiving: Year”, “Time of Receiving: Month”, “Time of Receiving: Day” columns
8. Create a new Column called “Date of the Bills Received” to the right of “Date of the Bills Received: Day”. Set the first row below the header equal to =DATEVALUE(CONCATENATE(TO_TEXT(K66), "-", TO_TEXT(L66), "-", TO_TEXT(J66))). Then drag this down to fill in all the rows.
9. Highlight the column and go click the “Format” tab, then “Number”, then “More Formats”, then “custom number formats” and enter: mmm" "d", "yyyy
10. Hide “Date of the Bills Received: Year”, “Date of the Bills Received: Month”, “Date of the Bills Received: Day” columns
11. Select the filter icon next to “Name of the Offices and Ships, from whence they were received” and pick everything except “#Value”.
12. Repeat step 12 for “Date of the Bills received” column
13. Select the filter icon next to “Number paid for” and pick everything except “null”.
14. Hide row 3 (Note: This row exists to allow filtering since you can not use merged cells like those in rows 1 and 2 to do filtering. It is hidden to provide a cleaner view)
15. Highlight the whole document and set horizontal align to center, vertical align to center, and width to auto

Steps for Microsoft Excel

Setup: Open Microsoft Office and click “upload and open”. Put in the file. Once the file loads, click “Edit Workbook” on the yellow bar that appears above the data, then press “Convert” in the pop-up that appears.

1. Insert 2 rows at the top of the document. Copy formatting from Initial Columns section located below. Pay attention to which cells are merged (cells are merged by highlighting them and then pressing the merge icon).
2. Hide the following Columns: “Notes” (Not Used), “Transcribers Notes” (Not Used), “Belonging to this office only” (Empty for the data we are using), “Sorting ID” (Not Used), “Page Number” (Not Used), “URL” (Not Used)
3. Highlight the third row, then click the “Data” tab and press “Create a new filter”. Select the filter icon next to “Data Completeness” and pick “Complete”.
4. Hide “Data Completeness” column
5. Create a new Column called “Time of Receiving” to the right of “Time of Receiving: Day”. Set the first row below the header equal to =CONCATENATE(F66, "-", G66, "-", E66). Then drag this down to fill in all the rows.

(Note: The DATE function is not used because it will not accept pre-1900 years. Microsoft Excel does not have a concise workaround so the date is left as numbers in the form of mm-dd-yyyy)

6. Highlight the column and go click the “Format” tab, then “Number”, then “More Formats”, then “custom number formats” and enter: mmm" "d", "yyyy
7. Hide “Time of Receiving: Year”, “Time of Receiving: Month”, “Time of Receiving: Day” columns
8. Create a new Column called “Date of the Bills Received” to the right of “Date of the Bills Received: Day”. Set the first row below the header equal to =CONCATENATE(K66, "-", L66, "-", J66). Then drag this down to fill in all the rows.
9. Highlight the column and go click the “Format” tab, then “Number”, then “More Formats”, then “custom number formats” and enter: mmm" "d", "yyyy
10. Hide “Date of the Bills Received: Year”, “Date of the Bills Received: Month”, “Date of the Bills Received: Day” columns
11. Select the filter icon next to “Name of the Offices and Ships, from whence they were received” and pick everything except “#Value”.
12. Repeat step 12 for “Date of the Bills received” column
13. Select the filter icon next to “Number paid for” and pick everything except “null”.
14. Hide row 3 (Note: This row exists to allow filtering since you can not use merged cells like those in rows 1 and 2 to do filtering. It is hidden to provide a cleaner view)
15. Highlight the whole document and set horizontal align to center, vertical align to center, and width to auto

Initial Columns

Help Expand These Records

Postal records like these can be hard to find because they sometimes weren't considered valuable enough to put in an archive! But to tell a fuller story about relationships between people and places in colonial British North America, we'd love to be able to connect our records from Philadelphia to similar postal records from the other twelve colonies. We could use your help! If you know of any account books, postal records, or other data sources related to the postal service prior to 1800, please let us know at [email protected].

Extended answers from the Duke of Devonshire, speaker from “Chatsworth House and Its Collections - A Conversation between the Duke of Devonshire and Jay Robert Stiefel”  (Click here to watch)

Question: You inherited this magnificent house, built centuries ago, and you and your family have stewarded it so wonderfully. But if you could build a house of similar scale and magnitude today from scratch, in the 21st century, what would your house look like? How would you design it?
Answer: It would be completely contemporary in architecture and design, as sustainable as possible but we would continue to display old as well as new works of art and design. The new house would of course be open to visitors and that would be a major part of the architect's brief. 

Question: Did they collect any items from Spanish America?
Answer: Nothing specifically acquired, not an area historically visited.

Question: I possess 3 out of four double volumes of the Harleian Miscellanies. They possess the 7th Duke's bookplate, but earlier had belonged to the great Henry Cavendish, one of the greatest intellectuals of the 18th century. But where is the fourth double volume? Still at Chatsworth?    
Answer: (From Fran Baker - Head Librarian, Chatsworth) This work is normally in eight volumes so I assume the enquirer simply means that Henry Cavendish’s copy was brought together into four larger vols. We have the 8-volume 1st edition of this in the Library; it has a Chiswick bookplate. There are a couple of letters from Duchess Georgiana dating from 1798 which indicate that she acquired this – it seems it was already hard to get hold of by that time – and the Chiswick bookplate would also make sense if she purchased it. 

We’ve got no record of having another copy, and the 8-volume set we still have is the only one listed in the 1879 Library catalogue. If Henry Cavendish’s set left the collection (presumably at some point between 1858 and 1879 if it has a 7th Duke bookplate) it would have been odd just to retain one volume anyway – certainly if it was sold, which I guess it could have been as a ‘duplicate’. Anyway, wherever the fourth volume is, I’m fairly sure it’s not here. 

Question: Where does scientist Henry Cavendish fit in the family history?    
Answer: Although one of the leading scientists of his time he is less known than he deserves to be as his discoveries and research were very rarely published in his lifetime due to his extreme shyness.

Question: Your Grace, your mother did much to rehabilitate and renovate various garden settings at Chatsworth, as you are doing now. With climate change affecting gardens in unexpected yet consequential ways, how are sensitive spaces at Chatsworth such as the Azalea Dell doing? Have the blooming times changed in noticeable ways?    
Answer: Currently we are not seeing much impact on the health of established plantings, such as the Azalea Dell. Flowering times are changing but not necessarily in any kind of pattern, mild winters and early Spring and often bringing things forward or causing sporadic flowering, and then this year a very late hard frost caused damage and delayed some blooms.

However climatic changes are influencing our thinking and planting for the future, planting in Autumn rather than Spring to avoid plants drying out and requiring extensive watering is now accepted. Also planting species more tolerant of waterlogging in some areas and extended dry periods in others is important, for example Beech that we have seen thrive over hundreds of years are now not happy in exposed positions where their shallow roots may dry out.

Question: Why has his Grace chosen not to go into politics? And is his son following that non-path?    
Answer: In my youth I was not inspired by either political party and I believe that my son will answer in a similar way. 

Question: How large of a staff is needed to maintain the house and gardens?    
Answer: The staff here at Chatsworth both directly and indirectly care for the house and gardens, whether they be skilled tradespeople, switchboard operators or staff welcoming our visitors. In 2019 we had 120 full time and 240 part time posts and over 170 volunteers. 

Question: Can his Grace tell us about any other contemporary artists he is interested in? And I know his son is a photographer and has done much to build the photography collection.    
Answer: We have a number of artist friends including Endellion Lycett Green, Tarka Kings, and Michael Craig-Martin amongst others and we keep well up to date with their exhibitions and outputs. 

Question: Would you please repeat the name of the Japanese silversmith who created the set you shared earlier?    
Answer: Hiroshi Suzuki 

Question: Are the collections all housed in the main building or have they become so vast that they have to be stored off-site?    
Answer: Mostly all are stored within the house with the exceptions of some furniture and costume from the 19th to 21st C. We are exploring off site storage but with a view to offering more access to researching the archives and some of the least often displayed and complex collections such as textiles and works on paper. 

Question: What in your view is the greatest pleasure in living in one’s family’s ancient country house?    
Answer: Being able to welcome so many visitors from all around the world to share this extraordinary place. 

Question: Might he speak more about his father? He was an elected member of the APS.    
Answer: My father enabled Chatsworth to remain an independent entity despite having to pay 80% capital tax up on his father’s death in 1950. He was also a tremendous supported of hundreds of charitable organisations especially in Derbyshire. 

Question: Follow-up on the question about building your own house: what architect or architects would you choose?    
Answer: We would do a very in-depth search amongst architects who have designed contemporary houses that work rather than just look wonderful and this would have to be an international search. 

Question: How has the "Fragrance" changed over the years? 
Answer: We used to burn coal in the open fires and now we only burn wood and that makes a significant difference to the fragrance. I also burn incense in the chapel and this fragrance travels down the adjacent passages and at Christmas time there is a strong perfume of pine from the many Christmas trees throughout the house. 

Question: Can you share some of yours and Amanda’s specific thoughts/visions/dreams as to potential additions over the next twenty years to the grounds and to the house?    
Answer: We are always on the lookout for contemporary work, particularly sculpture and interesting seating in the garden. We would love to install a sound installation. Indoors, I am sure there will be additions to the ceramic collection and more contemporary furniture. 

Question: When you visit Chatsworth, what parts do you get to see?    
Answer: A large portion of the house at Chatsworth is open to visitors and you follow a circuitous route through the ground floor reception rooms and then up to the State Rooms via the 19th Century guest bedrooms and then into the North Wing. Besides the house, there is 105 acres of managed gardens and c.400 hectares of parkland, all surrounded by the beautiful Peak District.

Question: After the demolition of Devonshire House, how did your family decide to integrate surviving paintings, furniture and other collections from there, into Chatsworth? Did it reflect any differences in strategy between a London town house and the main family seat?    
Answer: A lot of the principle paintings would move with the family to which ever was their main residence. At the time that Devonshire House was sold it had been unoccupied by the family for at least 5 years as the house was used by the Red Cross during the First World War. There are notes that when the family moved to another London property in Carlton Gardens in 1923 they bought down paintings from Chatsworth and Hardwick, their Derbyshire property. These same paintings appear back at Chatsworth after the 2nd World War which shows moving these art works was not uncommon and quite a practical matter. 

Question: Many important private American art collections are the result famous collaborations between collectors and their advisors, such as Isabella Stewart Gardner and Berenson. Are there any advisors of note in the history of Chatsworth or has it most often been members of the family working directly with the artist, designer, or architect?    
Answer: 2nd Duke had people helping him acquire paintings within Europe but 6th Duke worked directly with the architects and builders. He would have had personal recommendations. By and large my ancestors, parents and parents-in-law didn't use advisors, although of course they were often offered items by artists directly and dealers. Jonathan Bourne has helped us particular regarding acquisition of furniture. 

Question: Who made that humorous little sculpture behind Jay?
Answer: (From Jay Stiefel) The sculpture, “Just Scratching the Surface,” is by Ann Chahbandour and may be found under “bronze” on her website: https://annchahbandour.com/

We check the weather everyday. Knowing the weather helps us make decisions: what to wear, how to plan our day, and even how to stay safe and healthy. To check the weather today, we can look at an app on our phone, turn on our TV, or check on our computer. Meteorologists (someone who studies weather) predict the weather by observing atmospheric patterns and data gathered by a variety of tools. These patterns help give the public important information especially during dangerous weather seasons. Being able to observe and predict the weather gives the public advanced warning for extreme weather such as hurricanes, tornadoes, blizzards, dust storms, thunderstorms, etc. The weather does not just affect our plans, it affects our health, neighborhoods, property, ecosystems, and livelihoods too. Thermometers, barometers, and weathervanes are still being utilized today as in the past to observe and record the weather. In fact, most of these are tools similar to the ones scientists used in the 18th and 19th centuries. 

The American Philosophical Society (APS) is now working on making our historic meteorological records accessible through transcription and digitization. Watching for weather patterns has been an important endeavor throughout history. In the 18th and 19th centuries, farmers would observe weather patterns since the weather could help or hurt their crops. George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and James Madison are just a few well known names that made sure to document or observe the weather in regards to their plantation crops. Thomas Jefferson became interested in documenting the weather for his crops on his plantation as well as to document the climate throughout the US. Madison and Jefferson both kept extensive journals at their plantations documenting the weather with sections to record temperature and wind direction. Madison also made sure to note in his weather journals additional observations on gardening, farming, and even animal occurrences.

However, who is not noted in these journals? Enslaved people were laboring on the plantations these founding fathers were observing and documenting. The people given credit for documenting this data were not involved in the hard labor. Enslaved people were forced to do the hard labor on plantations while their owners noted the scientific data. (Note that, in this vein, historians today have referred to plantations such as those referenced here as labor camps.)

APS Fellows Molly Nebiolo and Joe Makuc worked with James Madison’s meteorological records to make them accessible to the public. Both fellows have used the data they accumulated to tell the stories they discovered along the way. These stories are: “Have You Ever Seen the Rain?: The 1791 Drought’s Damage to Agriculture at Montpelier” and “Locating the Transatlantic Seed Trade in James Madison’s Garden.” These two stories are just the beginning of the tales researchers can gleam from meteorological data. 

These stories do not solely reside in the past, they also reverberate in the present. Global warming continues to adversely affect the planet, increasing the warmth of the planet slowly and increasing extreme types of weather. Data collected by founding fathers like James Madison and Thomas Jefferson can be used to document the change in climate over time. Further, by doing this work today and continuing to explore these documents, we are able to tell the stories that were either omitted or neglected years ago. With this data, we can continue to evaluate and collect data to show the continued detrimental effects of global warming and the effects of biased historical practices of the past.

Written by Ali Rospond, Museum Education Coordinator

How did people communicate before the invention of email, texting, or even phone calls? Well they sent a letter of course! While the United States Postal Service has only existed since 1971 as an independent agency, there has been a mail system in the United States since before it became a country. In fact while Benjamin Franklin might be known for his scientific and political achievements, one of his first leadership roles was as postmaster. Initially he was Postmaster of Philadelphia from 1737 to 1753 before being elevated to Deputy Postmaster General of the British North American Colonies in 1753. Due to his American sympathies (especially regarding the Hutchinson Affair where Franklin shared letters from Thomas Hutchinson requesting more British troops to stop American rebels with prominent American politicians) in 1774 he was removed from the post by British government officials. Finally the Continental Congress offered him the job of Postmaster General for the new country in 1775. Overall he spent almost 40 years involved in the mail system!

Franklin made a number of systemic improvements during his time as postmaster, but some stand out more than others. His biggest changes were expanding the number of postal routes, having mail riders run at night, simplifying prices, and posting them in easy to see places. Before Franklin, many local postmasters did not display simple pricing guides, which made it hard to know how much sending your letter cost. Benjamin Franklin also mandated that every newspaper that was paid for had to be delivered. Previously, many postmasters also owned newspapers and would make more money by not allowing their competitors to use the mail service. He even started a practice of printing lists of uncollected mail in newspapers to decrease the number of undelivered letters. At the time, mail had to be picked up from the post office and did not need to be paid for beforehand. Whenever someone failed to pick up a letter, that usually meant that the post office made no money on it. Franklin’s idea increased the number of people who collected their mail and led to decreased  revenue losses.

Benjamin Franklin was a strong believer in the civic duty of everyone to assist their community. The post office gave him yet another way to help his fellow citizens; however that does not mean he did not use it to his benefit as well. By running the post office, Franklin could send free mail (called the franking privilege). He chose to send his own newspaper for free, saving his printing business money. His ability to send free mail also helped grow the scientific community within the Thirteen Colonies and strengthen their connections to Europe as Franklin would send many letters to scientists, politicians, and natural philosophers all over the world and help connect them to each other.

This is not to say that the post office was perfect in Franklin’s time. In addition to the changes and unjust privileges discussed above, the post office still had many issues to address. For one, mail delivery was based on distance and especially for far away locations the cost would be quite high. Only more developed areas even had mail routes and nowhere could you send anything bigger than a newspaper for a reasonable price. Paper was also expensive. Added to that, was the fact that the unreliability of the postal service meant people would send multiple copies of a letter to ensure that one arrived. These factors all helped to raise the price of mail and put it out of range of non-elites. Since then, many changes have taken place to fix some of these issues and to expand the offerings of the post office. The Universal Service Obligation of the USPS ensures that everyone gets equal access to the sending and receiving of mail at a reasonable rate, so whether you live in the center of New York City or the remote villages of Alaska you are guaranteed access to the Postal Service. Since 1856 mail must be prepaid, which means the sender pays ahead of time (in the form of a stamp) to send mail. Beginning in 1863 cities meeting certain criteria could have free home delivery of mail instead of picking it up at the post office and eventually this expanded to everyone in 1902. Beginning in 1913 Parcel Post allowed packages to be sent. From 1911 to 1966, some post offices even offered a bank savings system.

All of this goes to show how important the mail system is. It is a vital part of America and is so important, it is specifically mentioned in Article I, Section 8, Clause 7 of the Constitution as a power of Congress. While today cars are used instead of horses and computer records instead of paper ones, the core purpose of the postal system has not changed since its founding making it a reliable form of communication for over 250 years for everything from postcards to medicine to mail-in ballots. Also unlike email or texting, you do not need to worry about having cell reception or electricity!

This set of activities and resources gives you the chance to work with Franklin’s ledgers and see what it would have been like to be a postal employee in the 18th century. There was mail coming in and going out to and from all over and communication between postmasters was often poor. Franklin helped improve the system by devising a series of ledgers to be used to standardize postage and improve record keeping. This system made it easier for postmasters to keep track of who owed money, where mail was coming from, and where it needed to go. Additionally, if all the postmasters were using the same ledger, they could easily compare records and improve interactions between post offices.

Additional Sources Used

• https://www.gao.gov/new.items/d05261.pdf
• https://www.uspsoig.gov/sites/default/files/document-library-files/2015/rarc-wp-15-001_0.pdf
• https://about.usps.com/publications/pub100.pdf
• https://postalmuseum.si.edu/exhibition/out-of-the-mails-the-franking-privilege/the-hutchinson-letters
• https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Franklin/01-05-02-0048
• https://muse.jhu.edu/article/406720
• https://about.usps.com/who-we-are/postal-history/on-this-day.pdf
• https://www.census.gov/history/pdf/colonialbostonpops.pdf

Help Expand These Records

Postal records like these can be hard to find because they sometimes weren't considered valuable enough to put in an archive! But to tell a fuller story about relationships between people and places in colonial British North America, we'd love to be able to connect our records from Philadelphia to similar postal records from the other twelve colonies. We could use your help! If you know of any account books, postal records, or other data sources related to the postal service prior to 1800, please let us know at [email protected].

Written by Craig Fox, Museum Guide, with the assistance of Bethany Farrell, APS Digital Franklin Fellow, and Cynthia Heider, Digital Projects Specialist

APS Fellow Julie Fisher has taken on the task of transcribing early minutes of the APS, covering between 1774 and 1787. Her transcriptions, or copy of what was documented in these written records, will present, for the first time, an unabridged edition of the Society's early meeting minutes. Not only does this edition provide a new way to examine or interrogate the Society's early history, it also allows the opportunity to align these records with current standards. This project ends up covering both history content and historical research skills through the minutes themselves and the process of transcribing, respectively. 

About the APS

“The first drudgery of settling new colonies is now pretty well over,” wrote Benjamin Franklin in 1743, ''and there are many in every province in circumstances that set them at ease, and afford leisure to cultivate the finer arts, and improve the common stock of knowledge.” The scholarly society he hinted at here became a reality that year, in the form of the American Philosophical Society (APS). The dual influences of Franklin and the Enlightenment along with the needs of American colonists led the Society to pursue equally "all philosophical Experiments that let Light into the Nature of Things, tend to increase the Power of Man over Matter, and multiply the Conveniencies or Pleasures of Life." At the time of its founding, natural philosophy, the study of nature, comprised the kinds of work now considered as science, technology, and the humanities. Early members included doctors, lawyers, clergymen, and merchants interested in science, and also many artisans and tradesmen like Franklin. Members of the APS encouraged America's economic independence by improving agriculture, manufacturing, and transportation. Notably, however, this group was largely limited to white men of wealth and privilege.

The period covered in this project, 1774-1787, comes after a period of fits and starts for the Society. It wasn’t until after the 1769 Transit of Venus that the Society really achieved international status and acclaim. The scientific endeavor of mapping the path of Venus across the sun was led by prominent Member, David Rittenhouse. With one of his telescopes, erected on a platform behind the State House (now Independence Hall), he successfully marked the celestial pathway during this rare phenomenon. Achieving this large feat and coordinating the American efforts, he successfully attracted the recognition of the scholarly world. 

This achievement led to the revival of the APS during the American Revolution. Francis Hopkinson, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, and Samuel Vaughan, a recent immigrant, led the APS through this era of growth. In 1780, Pennsylvania had granted the APS a charter guaranteeing that the Society might correspond with learned individuals and institutions "of any nation or country" on its legitimate business at all times "whether in peace or war." This charter lends an international scope to the conversations of the Society, which is reflected in the minutes. The state also deeded to the Society a portion of present-day Independence Square, on which it erected Philosophical Hall in 1785-1789. The construction of this building brings in conversations and historical figures in Philadelphia that floated outside of the Society’s more scholarly crowd. 

The Enlightenment’s influence on the Society's charter and the location of Philosophical Hall adjacent to the seat of government clearly illustrate how closely the new nation linked learning and freedom, regarding each as the support and protection of the other. Until about 1840 the APS, though a private organization, fulfilled many functions of a national academy of science, national library and museum, and even patent office. Accordingly, political figures and presidents often consulted the Society. The Society also served as the prototype for a number of other learned societies, and gave birth to organizations for agriculture, chemistry, and history. For many years the Society's hall provided space for the University of Pennsylvania, Thomas Sully's studio, Charles Willson Peale's Museum, and several independent cultural and philanthropic organizations. Thus, politics and the deeper histories of Philadelphia organizations are also revealed in these minutes. 

About Transcription

An original note found within the early minutes of the Society leaps into a conversation on the importance of updating transcriptions. 

gentlemen as I have had the Care of the hall all most

tow year I shall esteem it as a faver if youl give me an order

to be pade I have had a long fit of illness and mony

will be very exseptabel to your frind

Isabella Hunt

friday night [jary] 27 1775

Skimming comes easily to researchers of all kinds, and it can be tempting to skip over difficult lettering or unfamiliar wording. Transcribing, however, provides no such refuge from the sticking points of the past. A transcriber must confront every strange turn of phrase, quirk in capitalization, or phonetic spelling. This practice of slow pacing is seemingly at odds with our reading habits today. What other benefits might this slowing down unlock for students? Notice the uneven line breaks, the misspellings, but also the content. A note like this would be among the items not included in the initial transcriptions of the minutes from the 19th-century. Historians today now see this as an essential piece of history. In order to copy a note like this, you have to read and write slowly, transcribing the text as it appears. This pace can connect the transcriber to the content more closely and in a more empathetic way than other types of reading. 

Learners should begin to interrogate historical records, both published and in manuscript form, early on -- this is a skill that should not only be left to graduate students and scholars. A researcher’s emotional responses to manuscripts, the conditions under which the researcher is transcribing, should all be considered. After all, give two people the same manuscript to transcribe and you may get two different transcriptions. What impact might choosing one over the other have on future researchers?   

Reading a heart-breaking petition in print can be sad enough; seeing such words put down in the petitioner’s own hand can pack an unexpected emotional punch. Most people from early America did not leave behind portraits, but the existence of such handwritten material can provide an all too rare glimpse into these lives, their emotions, educational level, and other personal details. 

Overall, transcription, and ultimately archives like those at and of the APS, are concerned with access to the past, in particular, who has access to which pasts and whose pasts are easily discovered. Another point of access is created while transcribing though: access to the historical figures themselves. Sometimes that figure happens to be a learned society! The APS invites learners of all ages to explore the Society’s early history and gain essential history skills by trekking through the early Minutes.

Written by Dr. Julie Fisher, APS Fellow, with the assistance of Mike Madeja, Head of Education Programs